


All He Wanted for Christmas

by AverageJoe213



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Amputation, Angst, Bart is not having a good time, Graphic descriptions of gore, M/M, Neither is Tim, Whump, tkb server secret Santa 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29050410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AverageJoe213/pseuds/AverageJoe213
Summary: After a mission gone wrong bart and Tim find themselves trapped in a collapsed basement. Bart is hurt and Tim has some tough choices to make if he wants to save his boyfriends life.
Relationships: Bart Allen/Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	All He Wanted for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nemusteel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nemusteel/gifts).



> Hello everyone! First fic on here ever and fuck am I nervous so I hope you all like it! This is a secret santa gift for nemusteel, hope you like it dude! I felt just a teensy bit bad about the evils committed here so I might do a second chapter to add more comfort and lessen the hurt lol. Until then enjoy the angst and gore!

The weight on top of him was heavy. Bart’s eyes were closed and he did not know where he was except that it was dark, there was a heavy crushing weight upon him, and somewhere deep in his chest sat a bitter chill. 

Despite the heavy weight upon his waist the harrowing chill in his bones and the encroaching holiday made his blank thoughts gather together. He thought of Tim and of Kon and how they should be spending this time together in Tim’s apartment, by the tree and the fireplace sipping warm hot chocolate watching terrible Hallmark Christmas movies. Tim would hang his head and moan about the cliches and get into an argument with Kon about which man in the transparent love triangle the generic holiday protagonist should choose, all the while Bart just watched them both with a sparkle in his eye. That was where he wanted to be for the holidays, not where ever he was now. 

_ “ It would probably help if I opened my eyes,”  _ Bart thought idly with a dull pain throbbing in the back of his head, as he pushed those thoughts away. And so Bart had opened his eyes to a most unwelcome sight on Christmas Eve. 

“What the fuck?” Bart muttered before shouting. “WHAT THE FUCK!” beneath the weight on his chest Bart Allen saw it, his left leg was twisted at an odd angle, bone jutted out through his skin and there was fresh blood, crimson and bright pooled around the young speedster’s kneecap. Bart’s breathing was growing heavy and erratic, which only served to deepen the crushing weight on his chest. He scanned his leg looking for any signs that this was a dream, until through his blurring vision he saw it. His legs were so cold and the pain he should have felt dulled and died, it was strange how he felt so little pain until he noticed the edging blue around his flesh, blue that in some spots faded into black. When he turned to glance at his other leg he found it entirely encased in ice, devoid of even the dull echo of pain he felt in his left. Bart’s screams only grew louder and echoed off the small space that the young man was too dazed to recognize as a collapsed basement.

Bart began to flail his arms in a panic, pushing at the large rock atop him and tried to imagine the state of his mangled, broken legs away. Then, he felt a warm grip on his cold hand and, suddenly, things began to feel more normal. Bart looked up and saw a familiar masked face below a head of once gorgeous but now matted and filthy black locks. 

“Tim i-is that you? What happened? Where are we whatsgoingonwhereisKonwhathappenedtomyle-”’ 

Tim frowned, but not an angry or annoyed frown, and then he put a hand on Bart’s shoulders, then another hand over Bart’s mouth that finally shut him up. Tim had never asked Bart to repeat himself as if he remembered every word. 

“Bart calm down, I-I need you to breathe.” Tim said as he removed his hand from Bart’s mouth. “What do you remember before blacking out?” asked the Boy Wonder, and Bart paused to think. The memories swirled and jumbled together and it was even harder to grab at them than it usually was for the aptly named Impulse. But he pushed through the haze and the fog of the pain. Soon there were flashe of the memories and that was all he needed. 

The speedster took a heavy pain filled breath and then gave his trembling words. “It was just the two of us. Everyone else was gone, and Kon was, he was. Is. He is in space with Superman.” He shuddered again, wishing with all the force in his body that Kon was here with them now. Maybe he would feel safe if both of his loves were here with him. “I-I remember that we got ambushed. We were tracking Killer Frost, Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold. But then I just remember being cold.” Bart breathed out a painful breath and shivered almost violently. He felt the chill in his legs and saw the blackened skin, in some spots it sort of felt almost like burning, but mostly it just felt like a numb nothing. 

“They snuck up on us.” Tim hissed and Bart heard the frustration in his voice, the full force of a million things perceived wrong permeating his every word. “ I should’ve seen it coming, it was so obvious that it was a trap when they led us into this building.They blew it up not long after. God, I should have”

“Don’t do that Tim. Don’t blame yourself. I’m the one who wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way” Bart said, his breathing getting heavier.

Tim didn’t respond. Just looked at Bart, a silent pleading in his eyes that would have gone unnoticed if almost anyone else were trapped in here with him. 

“Comms aren’t working down here and half of my tools got crushed beneath falling rubble. I can’t move the rubble off of you. Can you phase through it? We have to get you out of there.”

“Ugh, I- I can try,” Bart said through the strange combination of pain and numbness that cascaded throughout his body. He took a breath, closed his eyes and concentrated on precisely vibrating his molecules through the stone that trapped him. There was a faint whirring sound as his legs began to move through the heavy stone, until a wave of pain washed through him and whirring turned to ripping which turned into screaming. 

The speedster howled out in pain as the stone exploded with the force of the vibrations sending shrapnel and debris everywhere. Tim had dove out of the way to avoid the worst of the debris, and yet he still managed to take a hard stone to the ribs. He grimaced but didn't say a word as he walked back towards Bart, his hand held tight to his now most likely broken rib.

Bart Allen was on the ground with tears in his eyes from the pain, curled up into a fetal position as much as he could the young man let out a mournful, horrible sob. “It hurts, it hurts, this isn’t fun anymore!” The hero cried out. This was supposed to be fun, it usually was. Zipping around fighting bad guys, saving people with friends, celebrating a hard won but worth it victory with the two loves of his life. Even this was supposed to be fun. Him and Tim were going to beat up a bunch of ice villains and then curl up and warm their bones under a blanket, by a fire, with a mug of hot cocoa. Then they would celebrate Christmas, Kon was supposed to be home by then. He and Tim would joke about how Bart had set Mr. Freeze’s pants on fire using friction. It was supposed to be fun. 

Tim crouched down beside one of the only men to ever capture his heart. “Let me see Bart.” Tim had said gently, taking Bart’s hand in his. If his legs weren’t mangled beyond repair before they certainly were now. It looked almost like someone had run a cheese grater over them again and again, his flesh was torn and cut into grotesque ribbons. 

“Bart…” Tim choked out. Every other word died in his throat. He looked at his boyfriend's legs, then looked at Bart's face, saw the pain and fear there. Calculations and thoughts ran wild in his head. Speedsters healed fast, but they weren’t gods, there were limits and lines that could not be returned from. His frown grew harder. There was no coming back from this for Bart, and the collapsed basement they found themselves in was still below freezing. Between that, Bart’s extreme blood loss and injuries Tim wasn’t sure how long his speedster had in this condition

Tim pulled Bart into an embrace, let the boy rest his head and cry into Tim’s shoulders. Tim opened his mouth to speak but the words he wanted to say turned to ash in his mouth. Instead he uttered a true reassuring fact. “It's okay. It’s going to be okay. I’ve got you.”

They sat together alone in the quiet darkness, bodies pressed tightly to each other, their only source of warmth and comfort. Tim held Bart as he cried himself hoarse for what seemed like hours, his throat and eyes burning from the sheer effort. Bart gripped Tim’s arms tight like the Boy Wonder was his only lifeline. In the heaviness of the quiet dark Tim finally opened his mouth.

“Bart. I know this isn’t easy. But you're hurt. I know someone is going to find us, but you aren’t going to last long in this condition.”

Bart was silent and deathly still now. “Tim n-no. I know what you’re thinking. I can’t do that.” The words fell out of him helplessly, and fear shined in his eyes. 

Tim sighed and then nodded. Bart wasn’t going to make it if he didn’t do something now! So it was time for something drastic. “Okay” Tim had said just before almost sweetly wrapping his arms around the speedsters neck and applying just the right amount of pressure to knock him out, and send him to sleep. Bart couldn’t even protest in the moment he had nothing left of him.

Bart woke up to hot searing pain, that contrasted heavily with the cold numbness he felt on his skin. Bart howled as he felt the cold steal of a razor sharp blade dig into flesh right above his knees where the majority of the damage sat. The pain of the knife digging into his flesh was sharp and radiant and overpowered the myriads of pain he had felt from this entire ordeal. 

“Tim! Tim stop please!” Bart cried out. He looked into the resolute eyes of Tim Drake, his best friend and the love of his life, as he cut into the frozen mangled flesh of his legs. “You can’t do this, stop Tim you gotta stop!” The pain didn’t disappear as the first of his appendages was cut clean off, he felt lighter where the leg once sat and yet he swore he could still feel it throbbing.

“Bart! There’s a choice here and it’s either this or losing you! And I don’t care if you hate me for choosing you!!”

Bart didn't say anything as Tim went to work on the second leg, he just howled in pained sobs, tears sleeking down his cheeks. Tim wished he had something to numb his friends' pain, wished that he at least had something for Bart to bite down on as he went about doing his grim work to save his friends' life. 

“I’m sorry Bart I’m so sorry.” Tim had said half way through the mangled, black tinted flesh of Bart, his beautiful always chipper Bart. Tim did not ask for forgiveness over the echoing howling of pain, and Tim would not when he was done. Tim was sure there was no forgiveness, for how could Bart forgive him? Tim was stealing the wind from Bart’s hair, the electricity through his skin, the joy and sheer lightness that came with a speedster’s speed. Tim could never understand how that felt not even if it was described to him a hundred more times, but he certainly knew what he was taking. 

_ Bart would never run again. _

When it was over Tim had torn his cape in half and used it to wrap the wounds up tight over what was left of Bart’s lower extremities. Then he had taken the severed limbs and put them behind a large set of debris, better to keep them out of sight though it was of little comfort to Tim and Bart surely wouldn’t see it as a courtesy. Tim walked away and sat on the other side of the room. He looked at Bart as the boy curled into himself. The silence was heavy and thick

Neither of them said anything for hours. At some point Bart had crawled to the nearest wall and simply glared at Time. the eyes bore into the Boy Wonder fiercely, and burned like acid on skin. When the silence was finally broken it was Tim that cracked first. 

“Bart I had to do it.” he choked out. “I don’t know how long we're going to be stuck here. You couldn’t stay like that. I-I couldn’t just watch you die.” His expression curled and hardened now and resigned Tim spoke the truth. “I don’t care if you hate me after Bart. I’m just glad you’re alive.”

Bart didn’t respond at first which was somehow worse than anything response he could have had. He only put his hands on the stumps that were his legs and looked at Tim with that acidic glare. After a few eternally lasting moments Bart finally opened his mouth.

“You’re right. I do hate you. That wasn’t your choice and I won’t ever forgive you.” Bart said cooley. How could Tim do this to him? Someone might have come. What if they were found? What if someone was on their way right now to rescue them? Bart hadn’t been ready to face what might have been inevitable, wasn’t ready to give up the hope of rescue. Tim took the decision away from him without even knowing if all was lost, his speedster healing might have been able to hold out, and let him get out of this with his legs intact. And honestly Bart was willing to take those odds! But now it didn’t matter and it didn’t matter because of Tim.

Tim nodded. As he said, he was okay with losing Bart as a friend and a lover, just so long as Bart was alive. Tim could live with this.

They stayed there in silence, Tim with the heavy weight of what he had done and Bart with the realization that he would never be the same again. Just when the darkness seemed to be most crushing, a pinprick of light shined down on them. 

Both boys looked up with bated breath to see Superboy standing triumphantly with a large stone above his head, the bright smile of a knight in shining armor visibly shattered as he laid eyes on Bart. Conner had swooped down and cradled the boy into his arms, Bart accepted the embrace without hesitation smothering his tear filled face into Conners chest. Bart said no words and gave no explanation, Conner looked at Tim face fallen and heart broken.

“Tim what the hell.” Conner let out dazed. Tim wasn’t sure if it was an accusation for what he had done or an exclamation of the shock of the scene that he couldn't quite piece together.

“Conner. Just, just get Bart out of here.” Tim had stood up and limped his way towards his second love. “I’ll be fine just, just get Bart someplace safe and take care of him okay?” Tim’s eyes met Conner and they shared a wordless exchange, the typical “we’ll talk later” stare. 

And with that Conner was off into the sky Bart held tight to his chest. Tim stared up at them and watched until they became tiny specks in the clouds, until finally they were gone and out of sight.

Tim was left with only one thought as the weight of what he had done had bared down on him crushing him like an anvil. 

_ Why was he always stuck with the hard choices? _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
